How was your Harvard interview?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1041

<p>annue15,</p>

<p>“Even with the practically nonexistent chance I’m accepted,…”</p>

<p>Remember, the golf ball must fall on some blade of grass. They gotta pick someone to go there.</p>

<p>But don’t let your interviews get you down. Or up.</p>

<p>My son had a great interview with the Yale fellow, who assured him he was a shoo-in. Yale told him to go fly a kite. On the other hand, his Harvard interviewer seemed cold and distant, and he didn’t feel any real connection to the fellow, who seemed more interested in warning my son about what were the bad points about Harvard than anything else.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, he was accepted to Harvard. After notification from the Harvard portal of his acceptance, within minutes the first call he received was from his interviewer, who was genuinely excited, happy and pleased. Warm and generous with praise for my son.</p>

<p>I wonder whether with some interviewers for extremely selective schools, there are some defenses operating, because they know that few, if any, of the kids they interview will be accepted. Thus, they wish to dampen expectations, not raise false hopes.</p>

<p>Also, Harvard is hard, and it’s really a place for grown-ups, not for 18 year-olds who are still children. My son’s interviewer made that clear, and it sounded harsh to his ears. Although it didn’t make for a fun conversation, the interviewer communicated important information about Harvard, gave a realistic overview of things to expect from Harvard. Giving some sense of the school is one of the roles of the interviewer.</p>

<p>My son is happy to be there, but his interviewer shared wise words, no matter that they sounded cold to him.</p>

1042

<p>notjoe,</p>

<p>Thanks for the input. I understand what you are trying to say, and I wish it was like that. My other Ivy interviewers were very clear that admissions are unpredictable, imparted the highs and lows of the school, and enjoyed their time at their respective schools.</p>

<p>I was mainly turned off by the fact that my interviewer made it clear that even now, he still feels uncomfortable when thinking about Harvard. He said he went because of the prestige, but he enjoyed his graduate school time at the state university more. </p>

<p>It wasn’t that he was trying to be realistic…he was just negative about the school. </p>

<p>I will take your advice to heart and not let the interview mar my view of the school.</p>

1043

<p>notjoe- what exactly about Harvard is hard/difficult? Is it the courses/workload, the environment, the people, the competition? Sorry for asking, I’ve been admitted, but I’m just trying to get a good guage as to what Harvard, in general, is really like.</p>

1044

<p>NewYork94,</p>

<p>The coursework. Of course, in my son’s case, he was perhaps a little over ambitious as well as not entirely aware of the import of different classes, and wound up taking a few classes with a larger-than-average courseload.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, it seems that most of the students work nearly continuously. All-nighters are common. One of his dorm mates actually worked through the night so many times that for a number of weeks, he became nocturnal, generally sleeping a few hours on some days around lunch time.</p>

<p>With many of the classes, it seems as if they’re having folks drink from a firehose.</p>

<p>Regarding the environment, there are things he enjoys and things he doesn’t. He doesn’t like the weather. The food at Annenburg (freshman dining hall) is adequate, nutritious, but often bland and tiresome.</p>

<p>He hasn’t really run into ruthless competition. In many of the classes, folks study in groups, because they need each other’s help to get through. My sense is that this mutes some of the competitiveness that might arise.</p>

<p>He’s made many friends, and easily. He has an active and pleasant social life, in the few spare moments he has. Which often comes about by just not going to bed some nights.</p>

<p>The overall atmosphere of the place is deeply secular, and this is tough for him. But he manages.</p>

<p>He also has a small part-time job to help pay his share of tuition (most students on financial aid have to make a contribution to the cost of their education) and enjoys that a good bit. He likes his professors, some of them a great deal. It’s very cool for him that some of his professors are at the top of their fields worldwide.</p>

<p>Overall all, he’s glad he decided to go to Harvard, but it’s not a day at the beach. The school admits a lot of really smart kids, and then bombs them. The bar is set very high. But most kids do fairly well. In accepting students, Harvard seems to be good at picking kids who are highly self-directing, self-motivating, and incredibly hardworking. I’m sure there are exceptions, but my son hasn’t seen any.</p>

1045

<p>notjoe is sharing important information; pay attention to those posts.</p>

<p>I never would tell an applicant s/he is a shoo-in. I am not making the decisions, and I am not privy to the application, letters of recommendation, essays, etc. I have met applicants who I think ought to be shoo-ins, but it would be irresponsible of me to tell them that.</p>

<p>I am frank with students about their odds of being admitted. The odds are dismal for all of them. I also try to be open about the not-so-great aspects of Harvard. It is not without its flaws, and it is not a good fit for everyone, regardless of ability.</p>

1046

<p>notjoe- Thanks for sharing that info. I was concerned most about the environment. But knowing that I will have friends and peers to work through the tough courseload with is reassuring and certainly makes the work less daunting. I feel largely decided on attending the school, but there was just a dearth of information on what exactly the experience was like- so thanks again!</p>

1047

<p>NewYork94,</p>

<p>Just wondering if being a double legacy (my grandpa (on my dad’s side) and my dad) will augment my chances of getting into Harvard?</p>

<p>Here are some of my stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>3.95/4.0 GPA (I don’t know all of my grades yet since some finals are still being graded)</li>
<li>taking 3 honors classes</li>
<li>taking Honors Orchestra as a freshman, which is unheard of and usually just for juniors and seniors</li>
<li>play on the JV tennis team</li>
<li>play on the track and field team</li>
<li>in Model UN</li>
<li>volunteer at hospital to play cello there often</li>
<li>I already know several of the staff at Harvard because of my visits there with my family and my dad’s great connections there</li>
<li>I have visited Harvard 3 times so far and fell in love with the school!</li>
</ul>

<p>Are my stats strong enough? Any recommendations for sophomore year?</p>

1048

<p>Stop spamming CC,
that said, everyone with decent grades and a personality has a chance, and legacy probably increases yours a bit.</p>

<p>I have two cousins whose parents both went to Harvard, and had family members who went there since 1741, a long with a Nobel prize winner who worked there and had a rooom in the medical school named after him. Both my cousins were rejected, despite their 1590/1600 SAT scores. Legacy can be helpful, but don’t count on it unless your family has donated substantial sums on money.</p>

<p>Going forward in high school, you should continue to keep up you grades in challenging classes. In addition to that, do what you love, and take initiative. If you love theater, participate in school/local plays, and perhaps create a program to teache acting to innercity youth. If you are interested in government, you should aim to be a student representative to your Board of Education (if you attend a public school). Demonstrate passion and initiative, but it must be genuine.</p>

<p>Don’t get your heart set on Harvard, even at your most optimistic. Nothing is certain until you get an acceptance letter.</p>

1049

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

1050

<p>I would agree with all the points hminot mentioned.</p>

1051

<p>All the people I know who have been admitted have also been really friendly, kind and interesting people. I think the Harvard admissions process does a really good job of filtering out shallow folks.</p>

1052

<p>I would take that as quite a compliment, hminot! Haha. The Harvard’s admissions process, as I have learned it to be, is one of the most arduous, but thorough, selection processes out there!</p>

1053

<p>Harvard’s admissions process*</p>

1054

<p>The only school that I know of with a seemingly more thoughtful process is Deep Springs College</p>

1055

<p>My interview went really well. I think I conveyed my personality very well. I was interviewed by two people, and we both shared many commonalities. I dominated the conversation but not to the point at which they barely spoke. It felt good stumping the both of them with one of my questions. :)</p>

1056

<p>@randompigeon: did you interview Manhattan?</p>

1057

<p>Yep, at the Harvard Club of NYC</p>

1058

<p>Yeah. Only HCNY does 2-on-1 interviews. It’s sure intimidating…but it’s one of the odd artifacts of having too many alum in NYC. haha. I do hope you agree it’s a gorgeous space. Not sure what part of the building you interviewed in…</p>

1059

<p>Yeah, it was really nice there! My interviewers were excellent. I lucked out.</p>

1060

<p>I did my interview…and I thought it went well, the man seemed interested… But he cut me off at 20 minutes and went back to the place to meet another candidate o_o is that a bad thing?</p>